How does first-past-the-post work?

First-past-the-post (FPTP), also called single-member plurality, is the voting system used in federal elections in Canada and in most provincial and territorial elections. Under FPTP, each electoral district (riding) elects a single Member of Parliament or provincial legislator. Voters cast one vote each for a candidate of their choice, and the candidate with the most votes (a plurality, but not necessarily a majority) wins the seat. The system is inherited from the British Westminster tradition.

The principal effect of FPTP is the disconnection between vote share and seat share. A party can win a majority of seats with less than 40 per cent of the popular vote (the Liberals won a majority in 2015 with 39.5 per cent of the vote and the Conservatives won a majority in 2011 with 39.6 per cent). Conversely, a smaller party with concentrated regional support (like the Bloc Québécois in Quebec) can win seats out of proportion to its national vote share, while a party with diffuse national support (like the Green Party) can struggle to win seats despite earning millions of votes.

FPTP usually produces single-party governments rather than coalitions. About 85 per cent of post-Confederation Parliaments have produced majority governments (single-party rule with more than half the seats), with minority governments the exception rather than the rule. Since 2000, however, minority governments have been more common, with seven of the 11 Parliaments since 2000 producing minority results (2004, 2006, 2008, 2019, 2021, 2025, plus 2024 if any).

Electoral reform has been a recurring federal topic. The Liberal Party's 2015 election platform promised that '2015 will be the last federal election conducted under the first-past-the-post voting system'; the federal Special Committee on Electoral Reform of 2016 recommended a referendum on a proportional representation system, but Prime Minister Justin Trudeau abandoned the reform in February 2017. British Columbia held referendums on proportional representation in 2005, 2009, and 2018, all of which failed. Ontario held a referendum in 2007 that failed. Prince Edward Island held two referendums (2016 and 2019), with the 2019 referendum on the same day as the provincial election failing. New Zealand, Scotland, Wales, and many Continental European countries use forms of proportional representation; Canada and the United Kingdom remain among the major Westminster democracies still using FPTP.